It’s hard to elucidate how painful the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns truly was.
A season that emerged as one of the franchise’s best since 1933 came to a crashing halt, one half of title-winning football played in the team’s last 6 games. Seeing Ben Roethlisberger, Maurkice Pouncey and JuJu Smith-Schuster morose as they embraced on the Steelers’ lonesome bench after the fourth quarter was a profoundly upsetting moment.
Even as Pittsburgh seemed on the precipice of greatness—and maybe even history—the Steelers never seemed to play like an undefeated, unblemished team.